People and organizations communicate wirelessly and on the go. Among the devices that make this possible are devices that are sometimes referred to as subscriber devices, mobile stations, or mobile radios. Examples of mobile radios include cell phones, smart phones, walkie-talkies, and portable hotspots, among others. A mobile radio could be handheld (as may be the case for a walkie-talkie), body-mounted, or attached to a vehicle (such as the roof of a car), as some examples.
Some users of mobile radios have specific requirements. For example, public-safety users may need push-to-talk (PTT) functionality, an officer-down alert, or direct mobile-to-mobile communication (for situations when, e.g., the mobile radios are out of range of a wireless infrastructure), among numerous other examples that could be listed here.
One feature often needed by public-safety users is group calling, which allows for communication among multiple mobile radios.
Another feature that is often needed by public-safety users is an ‘eye-in-the-sky’ or other robotic assistance, e.g., additional video and/or imaging coverage of an area of interest such as an incident scene or a robot that can traverse dangerous terrains or hazardous situations. In the past, a fixed camera installation may be controlled remotely by a user, such as a dispatch operator in a dispatch center, to tilt, pan, and/or zoom in a particular direction so that additional video and/or imaging intelligence could be gained through the media provided by the camera installation. Similarly, mobile mechanical rescue robots, mobile camera installations, or any other mobile-radio equipped electro-mechanical devices including but not limited to land or airborne vehicles (all hereinafter referred to simply as mobile-radio equipped robots), could be similarly manually controlled to move to an area of interest and subsequently control an accessory such as an attached camera installation to tilt, pan, and/or zoom in a particular direction so that additional video and/or imaging intelligence could be gained through the media provided by the camera installation. Such camera controls and land or airborne vehicle controls may be manually controlled, for example, using a joystick or other touch-based control input. However, when a plurality of mobile-radio equipped robots must be controlled in a synchronized manner to provide a coordinated response, it becomes very difficult and costly to control the plurality of mobile-radio equipped robots in a synchronized and controlled manner.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems for improved control of a plurality of mobile-radio equipped robots.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.